Update 6/3/2018: Both damaged bridges were replaced in Spring 2018. I added some details in a reply to this thread
A bridge has been out on North Fork Smith Trail for a couple years. I couldn't find any specific info online about the bridge or difficulty of crossing the creek so the kids and I went out Saturday morning to take a look for ourselves.
We planned an ambitious 10 mile hike uphill followed by a 7 mile downhill return trip on bicycle.
The fog was much prettier from above than it was while I was driving through it for an hour.
After stashing our bikes in the trees along road 919 we made it to North Fork Smith Trailhead a little before 9am.
On the trailhead notice board there was a caution sign and a map with some details about the trail condition.
8.5 miles to the next trailhead. Time to get started.
Not far from the trailhead we came to this sign
Thank you for the info, Forest Information Resources Tourist Council. But it's not really that big.
On the lower section of the trail the Trillium were out in force
There are a bunch of small bridges along this trail. I think we counted five in the first mile.
Then we got to the first major bridge. Some people would probably think nothing of walking across a log 12 feet above rushing water and bedrock. I am not one of those people.
We went looking for a reasonable place to cross and found a nice spot a few hundred feet downstream. Here is the bridge from where we crossed.
One of the kids waiting for her turn to cross
The water was about knee deep and the bottom was pretty friendly to bare feet but after crossing six times my feet were getting really cold.
On the other side we had to push through some pretty thick (and somewhat thorny) bushes to get back to the trail. Is that salmonberry bushes? I've never noticed thorns on them before. But I've also never had to walk through them with a seven year old before.
The other side of the bridge, adults(without piggyback kids) might be able to cross just a little upstream from the bridge and save themselves the bushwack.
From here to the next major bridge it was obvious that trail crews had been hard at work. Other than a few blow downs the trail was in excellent shape.
Giant frilly fungus thing, about a foot in diameter.
Yay! this bridge isn't broken.
...much...
The North side of the second bridge has been washed away, along with 100 feet or so of trail. We had some trouble finding the trail and spent a while wandering around in the mud and bushes.
If you look at this pictures again, the main section of the bridge points right at where the trail reappears.
As promised by the sign at the trailhead the next 3/4 mile of trail was getting a bit overgrown.
We couldn't figure out what this trail-side sign said. It looks like "DOUG FIR HFTD".
There was a larger than average Douglas Fir right behind the sign.
We came to a trail junction right here with these signs. We came from NFK Trail and were headed to K Falls. But what is Swinging Bridge? I wanted to go check it out but we couldn't afford to waste daylight on a side trip. I guess I'll have to go back sometime.
The kids enjoyed crossing lots of little streams on the trail.
One of the nicer looking campsites
This pool was very inviting. I wouldn't mind coming back and camping near this spot.
We stopped for a long lunch break at North Fork Falls. Fyi, that big white overexposed blob is a waterfall.
After lunch we dunked our heads in the creek and got back on our way.
Resting on the stone bench at Upper Kentucky Falls.
We took another little rest at Kentucky Falls Trailhead before walking our last 1.7 miles up the paved road to where our bikes were hidden. By now I had two very tired little hikers on my hands. One nice woman stopped and asked "Are you doing this on purpose?" as she drove by.
As an extra incentive, I left a container with Caprisun and giant cookies with the bikes. After 10 miles and ~3000 feet of elevation gain they earned their junk food.
Life is better when gravity is doing all the work for you.
On our way down we spooked some elk off the road.
Back at the trailhead with a little daylight to spare. We met a few guys at the trailhead who had hiked 13 miles up to North Fork Falls and back.
http://gpsfly.org/g/4077
North Fork/Kentucky Falls Hike and Bike Loop 3/7/15
- kaltbluter
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North Fork/Kentucky Falls Hike and Bike Loop 3/7/15
- Attachments
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- North Fork Smith-Kentucky Falls Bike and Hike.gpx
- Gpx for entire loop
- (27.5 KiB) Downloaded 626 times
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- Drive.From.Hwy126.to.Kentucky.Falls.TH.gpx
- Driving route from Hwy 126 to Kentucky Falls Trailhead
- (12.52 KiB) Downloaded 631 times
Last edited by kaltbluter on June 3rd, 2018, 11:30 am, edited 3 times in total.
Re: North Fork/Kentucky Falls Hike and Bike Loop 3/7/15
Great TR and two tough kids! I was just looking at this hike today thinking "oh, that hike would be perfect with a bicycle stashed at the top!," as I was looking through Sullivan's guide for a hike with my daughter tomorrow. You make one perfect sherpa for stream crossings! After six crossings, your feet must be totally numb!
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Re: North Fork/Kentucky Falls Hike and Bike Loop 3/7/15
Nice report! I think this is a first on this section of trail -- just a couple in the past on the Kentucky Falls trails, too. Upper Kentucky is gorgeous -- I've just been there once, but it's very photogenic. Tougher to get the two falls downstream -- a very cool spot, but hard to capture with a photo. BTW, I laughed out loud when I read this:
Great that you're getting your kids out there for such an ambitious hike... gotta hook 'em early!
Thanks for posting!
Tom
That's up there with "Imagine a large, snowy volcano where that wall of fog is..."Fyi, that big white overexposed blob is a waterfall.
Great that you're getting your kids out there for such an ambitious hike... gotta hook 'em early!
Thanks for posting!
Tom
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Re: North Fork/Kentucky Falls Hike and Bike Loop 3/7/15
The road is paved all the way and I don't think there was even one pothole, just sticks and pine cones. It's a fun ride.Peder wrote:Great TR and two tough kids! I was just looking at this hike today thinking "oh, that hike would be perfect with a bicycle stashed at the top!," as I was looking through Sullivan's guide for a hike with my daughter tomorrow. You make one perfect sherpa for stream crossings! After six crossings, your feet must be totally numb!
Hopefully right now you and your daughter are on your way to a great hike. Have fun!
There was too much direct sunlight to get a really great photo so I didn't bother trying. Besides, I've been there before and I'll go back again-I have to so I can follow that Swinging Bridge trail.Splintercat wrote:BTW, I laughed out loud when I read this:
That's up there with "Imagine a large, snowy volcano where that wall of fog is..."Fyi, that big white overexposed blob is a waterfall.
There was another interesting looking side trail farther North too. It was unsigned but well traveled.
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Re: North Fork/Kentucky Falls Hike and Bike Loop 3/7/15
I am glad we aren't the only ones who couldn't read that sign at the big tree. Did you go downhill at a switchback to reach that junction with the swinging bridge sign? We came from the Kentucky Falls Trailhead following Sullivans book. We came to an unsigned junction at a switchback and wandered down to find that sign (and the bridge which wasn't too far beyond, maybe a 1/4mile) and noticed the trail and sign pointing to Kentucky Falls down there. We went back up to the switchback and continued south on the trail to the damaged 1 1/2 mile and then hiked back. On the way back we noticed a side trail closer to the swimming hole that we figured must be where the trail at the swinging bridge junction labeled Kentucky Falls connected up.
Below is a picture of the bridge. On the other side was an overgrown road and there was a sign at the far end of the bridge that said something like "3.5 miles to gated road 4880" Looking at the map in Sullivans book he showed a chunk of private land on the far side of the river which we think this must have been part of, but there were no signs indicating such.
This is the switchback where the unsigned junction was. We came down from the right and stayed right down the ridge to get to the bridge then came back up and continued south on the trail. I took this picture just after coming back up and continuing on.
Below is a picture of the bridge. On the other side was an overgrown road and there was a sign at the far end of the bridge that said something like "3.5 miles to gated road 4880" Looking at the map in Sullivans book he showed a chunk of private land on the far side of the river which we think this must have been part of, but there were no signs indicating such.
This is the switchback where the unsigned junction was. We came down from the right and stayed right down the ridge to get to the bridge then came back up and continued south on the trail. I took this picture just after coming back up and continuing on.
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Re: North Fork/Kentucky Falls Hike and Bike Loop 3/7/15
This is my favorite comment!Then we got to the first major bridge. Some people would probably think nothing of walking across a log 12 feet above rushing water and bedrock. I am not one of those people.
Super impressed that you "planned" to take those two on a ten mile hike up hill. And there are no grumpy faces.
Ann
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Re: North Fork/Kentucky Falls Hike and Bike Loop 3/7/15
To be honest, Grumpy Face did make a few brief appearances during the last mile. But nothing so bad that whispering the words "giant cookie" couldn't fix it.rainrunner wrote: Super impressed that you "planned" to take those two on a ten mile hike up hill. And there are no grumpy faces.
Ann
They did well on the 11 mile East Fork Trail Hike and 9 miles in the Obsidian Area. So I decided to take it up a notch and have them do the same distance only all up hill.
Maybe it says "47".derwoodynck wrote:I am glad we aren't the only ones who couldn't read that sign at the big tree.
We started at North Fork Smith Trailhead and hiked uphill. I took the picture of the swinging bridge sign right here. I didn't notice it before but you can see the bridge in the aerial view South and a bit West of my marker.derwoodynck wrote:Did you go downhill at a switchback to reach that junction with the swinging bridge sign? We came from the Kentucky Falls Trailhead following Sullivans book.
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Re: North Fork/Kentucky Falls Hike and Bike Loop 3/7/15
So you did take the lower trail then. This picture was taken facing north as though we were coming from the North Fork TH. We had come down the path on the right and followed the path directly ahead down to the signed junction and Swinging Bridge, then we hiked back up to this junction and continued south to the 1 1/2 mile bridge. On the way back we went back uphill to the right the way we'd come from earlier.
Here is a poor shot of our GPS track, the arrow is pointing to where I believe the signed junction is.
Here is a poor shot of our GPS track, the arrow is pointing to where I believe the signed junction is.
Re: North Fork/Kentucky Falls Hike and Bike Loop 3/7/15
Looks like "DOUG FIR 8 FT DIA" to me. How big was the tree?kaltbluter wrote:We couldn't figure out what this trail-side sign said. It looks like "DOUG FIR HFTD".
[snip]
There was a larger than average Douglas Fir right behind the sign.
- kaltbluter
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Re: North Fork/Kentucky Falls Hike and Bike Loop 3/7/15
It could have been 8 feet diameter or bigger. We never stood right next to it.5th wrote:Looks like "DOUG FIR 8 FT DIA" to me. How big was the tree?
Now that you mention it, I do see an "I" and "A" camouflaged in the moss at the end.
Maybe what I thought was an "H" is an "11".